JPS63247795A - Character output device for multi-kind character style - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a character output device for multiple fonts, and more particularly to a character output device for multiple fonts that can output multiple fonts with a small storage capacity and high quality. It is something.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, a character output device outputs multiple fonts (for example, Mincho font,
In order to output a Gothic font, etc., a font set for each font is stored in the character output device, and the bit pattern of the desired font is extracted from the file as necessary. In recent years, the use of Chinese characters has become common in character output devices, and there has been a demand for higher quality printing. In other words, there has been a demand for higher density printing dots and for printing in a variety of fonts and sizes.

As a result, the storage capacity of font sets held within the system has become enormous, and this is becoming a heavy burden on the system.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) In order to deal with this, the number of font sets held in the system is reduced by conventionally having only a font set of a certain size and using it by enlarging or reducing it. things are being done.

However, this method has a problem in that print quality is significantly degraded. To prevent this deterioration of print quality,
Although it has been attempted to correct enlarged characters, there is a problem in that as the enlargement magnification increases, there is a limit to this correction, making it impractical.

Furthermore, in order to reduce the storage capacity of font sets held within the system, a method has been proposed in which multiple fonts are mechanically created from a basic bit pattern, but this method has many quality problems.

Furthermore, with methods that reduce the storage capacity of font sets by simply compressing the bit patterns of fonts, such as compression using run length, the ratio of black and white pixels of characters does not differ much, and due to the characteristics of kanji, rectangular Since there are many configurations, there is a problem that it is difficult to obtain a compression effect.

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the problems of the prior art described above,
To provide a character output device capable of outputting high-quality characters in a variety of fonts with a small storage capacity.

(Means and effects for solving the problems) The present invention has the following features:
The feature is that the font bit pattern information of the basic font and the font bit pattern correction compression information used to convert from the font bit pattern information of the basic font to another type of font are provided in the font file. There is.

In the present invention, the font bit pattern information of the basic font and the information obtained by decoding the font bit pattern correction compression information used for converting the font to the other type of font are subjected to exclusive OR processing for each bit. By doing this, you can obtain high quality font bit pattern information for other fonts.

(Example) The present invention will be explained in detail below using examples.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of the invention.

1 is a system disk which is the main part of the present invention, and a font file having the following information is stored in the system disk.

(1) Header information a (2) Address information b (3) Basic font bit pattern information C (4) 1st to nth font font bit pattern correction compressed information di - dn Here, the "header information a"' contains information about the basic matrix of the basic font bit pattern (i.e.
(information such as vertical and horizontal size, number of characters, etc.), and information regarding the font to be converted (that is, information regarding what kind of converted font is included).

As shown in FIG. 2, the "address information b" includes offset information (i.e., pointer) to the bit pattern information of all the basic fonts stored in the system cylinder 1, and each It contains offset information (i.e., pointer) to bit pattern information of the first to nth optional fonts for each basic font.

The "basic font bit pattern information C" includes, for example, each character pattern (approximately 8
000 characters), and in this embodiment, unlike the conventional device, only the character pattern of one font, for example, the Mincho font, is stored.

The "first to nth optional font bit pattern correction compression information d1 to dnJ" is information used to convert the basic font to another font, such as a Gothic font, and the bit pattern of the basic font. The bit pattern information obtained by performing exclusive OR processing of the information and the bit pattern of each optional font is compressed using a known data compression method.

In general, the bit pattern information of Kanji fonts does not have much difference in the ratio of black and white pixels, and Kanji characters often have a rectangular structure, so almost no compression effect can be obtained. The optional font, font, and bit pattern correction compression information di-dn obtained through this process can have a large compression effect. That is, fonts of the same size, especially Mincho fonts, Gothic fonts, etc., which are often used practically,
This is because the thickness of the vertical lines of type and the addresses on the bit pattern almost overlap, and the ratio of white to black pixels in the font bit pattern obtained by performing the above-mentioned exclusive OR processing becomes large. .

Therefore, even if the optional font bit pattern correction compressed information d1 to dn of various fonts is stored in the font file, it can be stored with a small storage capacity. This is obvious from the bit pattern information in FIG. 5, which will be explained later.

The explanation will be given by returning to FIG. 1 again. 2 is the CPU.

A control circuit consisting of ROM, RAM, etc., such as RO
Predetermined control is performed by the program stored in M. 3 is a decoder circuit, which receives the first to in-option font bit pattern correction compression information d1 to d.
Decode n. Reference numeral 4 denotes an optional font correction circuit, which corrects the basic font bit pattern information C to an optional font based on the decoded first to nth optional font bit pattern correction compressed information di-dn. be.

Furthermore, 5 is a font memory, which stores font bit pattern information of the optional font obtained by the optional font correction circuit 4.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a plurality of line buffers, in which font bit pattern information of the optional font is transferred from the font memory 5 to the line buffer selected by the selection circuit 7, and font bit pattern information of the optional font is transferred from the other line buffers selected by the selection circuit 7. The font bit pattern information is output. This transfer and output are performed alternately when focusing on one line buffer.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6. Here, FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the control circuit 2 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the control circuit 2 shown in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the compressed correction information obtained by decoding the optional font font bit pattern correction compressed information d1 to dn by the decoder circuit 3, and FIG. Optional font correction circuit 4
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing an example of font bit pattern information converted into an optional font in FIG.

As is clear, in Figures 4 to 6, the kanji ``WA'' is taken as an example.

Now, when the control circuit 2 is given font address information A and font-related information B from an external device (not shown), the control circuit 2 is located in the system disk. From the address information of the font file, the offset (pointer) of the bit pattern information of the font (basic font) is obtained (step 31 in Figure i3). Next, the address of the bit pattern information of the basic font is obtained from this offset, and the bit pattern information of the basic font is developed in the optional font correction circuit 4 (step 82). As a result, the optional font correction circuit 4 develops, for example, bit pattern information of the basic font "WA" of the Mincho font as shown in FIG.

Next, it is determined whether the font information B is a basic font (step S3). When the address information is NO, the offset of the compressed bit pattern information of the font indicated by the information B of the font is obtained from the address information (step 84). Next, the address of the compressed bit pattern information is obtained from the offset, and the compressed bit pattern information is transferred to the decoder circuit 3 (step S5). Subsequently, the decoder circuit 3 performs decoding processing to obtain correction bit pattern information (step 8B). As a result, corrected bit pattern information for converting the bit pattern information of the basic font "Japanese" in the Mincho font as shown in FIG. 5, for example, into the Gothic font is obtained.

Next, the corrected bit pattern information is sent to the optional font correction circuit 4, and exclusive OR (Ex, OR) processing is performed with the bit pattern information of the basic font (
Step S7). Through this process, bits that match each other become white, and bits that do not match become black. For example, by performing exclusive OR processing between the bit pattern information of the basic font shown in FIG. 4 and the corrected bit pattern information shown in FIG. Bit pattern information of "sum" is obtained.

Next, the font bit pattern information obtained by the optional font correction circuit 4 is developed into the font memory 5 (
Step S8).

If the answer is yes in step S3, the bit pattern information of the basic font is developed in the font memory 5 (step S8).

In the circuit shown in FIG. 1, a memory for developing the bit pattern information of the basic font in step S2 is separately provided, and the bit pattern information of the basic font stored in the memory and the corrected bit pattern obtained in step S6 are combined. The information may also be subjected to exclusive OR processing.

The above explanation was an example of converting Mincho fonts to Gothic fonts, but if you read out the font bit pattern correction compression information of other fonts in system disk 1, you can convert Mincho fonts to Gothic fonts. It is clear that it is possible to convert from to characters of other fonts.

As is clear from the above explanation, according to this embodiment, if the bit pattern information of one type of basic font and the font bit pattern correction compression information of other fonts are stored in the font file in the system disk, the basic font Of course, bit pattern information of other fonts can be developed in the font memory 5. As is clear from FIG. 5, most of the font bit pattern correction compression information for the other fonts is made up of white bits, so the compression ratio can be very high.

Therefore, the information stored in the system disk can be the bit pattern information of one type of basic font and the font bit pattern correction compressed information of other fonts with a very high compression ratio, so the system disk according to this embodiment can store all The capacity can be significantly reduced compared to the conventional system disk capacity that stores font bit pattern information.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, as is clear from the above description, bit pattern information of a type of basic font is stored in the font file of the system disk, and font bit pattern correction of other fonts with a very high compression rate is provided. By simply storing the compressed information, bit pattern information for other fonts can be created, which has the effect of significantly reducing the capacity of the system disk.

Another great effect is that high-quality bit pattern information for other fonts can be created at high speed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the contents of address information, FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the control circuit in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the contents of address information. A conceptual diagram of an example of the basic font of the Mincho font. Figure 5 is a conceptual diagram of information obtained by decoding font bit pattern correction compression information.
FIG. 6 shows a conceptual diagram of an example of bit pattern information converted from Mincho typeface to Gothic typeface. 1... System disk, 2... Control circuit, 3...
・Decoder, 4...Optional font correction circuit, 5...
・Font memory, Agent Patent attorney Michito Hiraki 1 cylinder 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In the font file, font bit pattern information of the basic font and font bit pattern correction compression information used to convert from the font bit pattern information of the basic font to another type of font are provided. A character output device with a variety of fonts. (2) Convert the basic font to another type of font by performing exclusive OR processing on a bit-by-bit basis between the font bit pattern information of the basic font and the information obtained by decoding the font bit pattern correction compression information. A character output device for various fonts according to claim 1, characterized in that the character output device is configured to output characters in various fonts.